Friday, March 10, 2006

SCOUTING REPORT: Cool MTB Race

I took a quick drive out to Cool today to check out the course conditions before Sunday's big 14th Annual Cool Mountain Bike Race. And I can truthfully report, it is going to be one muddy ride.

The course is a rolling ten mile loop in the Auburn State Recreational area off HWY 49 just south of Auburn, CA. The course has no major hills (probably a couple hundred feet of vertical climbs per lap) and seems to be mostly well maintained single and doubletrack (fireroad). The course conditions today were a mixed bag. In most places, it was moist, hard pack with a bit of gravel (i.e. really nice and fast). But in place where water has pooled, the mud took on a consistency of quicksand. And deep quicksand. In

some muddy areas, I saw horse hoofprint that sank 4 or 5 inches. I don't know how much worse this will get, but it just started raining here, so it certainly isn't going to get any better before Sunday morning.

The other striking point of today's trip up to Cool was the temperature. While my two pictures don't show it, even the Louie dog was freezing his ass off. There were flurries of snow in the air and the trusty coatpull thermometer said it was 39F. Looking at the weather forecast, I don't see it being much above the high 40Fs for Sunday morning.

Sunday's race registration starts at 8 AM (you can also check-in on Saturday at Auburn Bike Works [ MAP ]) and the pre-race meeting commences at 10:30 AM. Awards and prize raffles will be held immediately after the race. The organizers were just setting up the race registration area while I was walking the trail today and the one thing that struck me was the complete lack of parking. A word to the wise, be looking for parking spots well before you get to the firehouse in Cool.